THERE I was almost swamped by the spirit of Christmas good cheer, when I was abruptly returned to the realities of life.

This was caused by one of the most depressing news items I have heard all year, and let’s face it, it’s been a pretty depressing year.

The news item was not actually about a matter of life and death, but it’s what Bill Shankly said about football – it was more important than that. It was about our distinctive and much-loved heritage.

The announcement that Jersey’s award-winning museum is to close over the winter came as a total surprise. I had only just got over the news about Hamptonne closing, which was another nail in the coffin of tourism, but I couldn’t believe that anything so fundamental to a community as the local museum could fall prey to the bean counters.

Someone who knows about these things said on the radio that even during the German Occupation the museum had managed to remain open. This graphically illustrates how far – and how quickly – the Island has sunk. The commentator was understanding about the need to cut costs at a time like this, but I’m not so charitable, even at Christmas. I think it’s appalling shortsightedness.

What made matters even worse was the reaction of the Minister for Economic Development (we’ve really got to change that title to something that reflects more accurately the job description. Perhaps something along the lines of Minister for Cuts).

He said that there were still plenty of things for tourists to do in Jersey during the winter, with the implication that he couldn’t understand why any visitor would want to learn about the Island’s heritage when they could be feeding their faces all day or lounging in some hot spa.

Perhaps that’s unfair, because there’s also the Island’s much-praised shopping experience to offer visitors. You know, the one provided by the UK multiples and fast-food chains that you can see on any street corner in any town of the UK, except the choice is often better.

There’s still the pubs, of course, if you can afford the prices, and in any case Jersey prefers to attract more discerning, higher-spending tourists who don’t want to sit in a pub or luxuriate in a spa all day. In other words we want the kind of people who like to learn about the heritage of the place they are visiting. Bad luck. They had better come back in the spring.

So out-of-season visitors and those on short breaks who want a uniquely Jersey experience can forget it. They can eat in some nice restaurants and stay in a few nice spas, but most can do that within a short drive of where they live. Why bother to come to Jersey?

But the Jersey Heritage Trust appears to have hit on an idea that could probably save a lot more money. After all, if we can do without a museum when there’s precious little else to do, why do we need a museum when there’s much more to do? Why not close for six months, nine months, the whole year? That would solve their financial problems. We don’t have to worry about the locals – very little thought appeared to go into what they would like when it was decided to close their museum for three months. Perhaps local people don’t go to the museum, which perhaps raises a whole set of other issues.

However, I don’t suppose you can blame the heritage trust for making cuts when it is now perfectly obvious that Jersey can no longer afford to act as though it was a wealthy island. All the prudence and careful financial planning of recent years hasn’t been enough to preserve some frontline services, let alone keep the museum open.

But never fear, the Chamber of Commerce has got the answer, and if you want some festive cheer you should turn to the Chamber’s latest monthly newsletter.

Now the council of the Chamber of Commerce is a pretty motley bunch of individuals from a wide range of backgrounds and industries, yet they all seem to speak with the same voice. There might be a dissident among them, perhaps even a socialist, but if there is they are keeping their head way below the parapet. They are all to a man – there is only one woman on the council – entirely convinced that it is over-spending by the States that has got us into this sorry mess and the only solution is to slash our way out.

However, one of their number has some advice on how to do this. ‘Businesses learned long ago that the best way to be successful was focusing on doing a few things very well rather than being a ‘jack of all trades and master of none’, he writes in the newsletter.

Now that’s a great idea. Think of all the savings you can make. For example, the States Education, Sport and Culture department is obviously trying to do too much and should become just the Department of Education, and forget about sport and culture. Health and Social Services is also trying to be a jack-of-all-trades, so could easily be slimmed down to just the Department of Health. Home Affairs should then make up its mind what it can do best – is it running a prison, policing the streets or putting out fires? It can’t continue doing everything. It must decide which in order to become more efficient – you know, just like the private sector.

However there are even more savings that can be made at a departmental level by just concentrating on doing a few things well. Perhaps the ears, nose and throat department at the Hospital could become the ears department, and anyone with a problem with their nose and throat will just have to go somewhere else.

I’m not sure where they can go, but that’s a technical detail.
So it’s all very simple, really. All the States has to do is to behave like the private sector, slashing costs, closing departments, making people redundant and withdrawing services, and we’ll all be better off.

The New Year will no doubt bring plenty more good ideas like that one, but I’m rather hoping that it will be a much quicker economic recovery that brings us all good cheer.

That is certainly what I wish all readers, and I mean all readers, at this special time of year.